Intergovernmental negotiating group named to revise UN reform agreement News
Intergovernmental negotiating group named to revise UN reform agreement

[JURIST] Responding to US-proposed changes [JURIST report] to the draft agreement to be signed at next month's summit on UN reform [UN materials], General Assembly President Jean Ping [official profile] has named a core group of countries, including the US, to negotiate a new text prior to the mid-September meeting. The group of about 30 countries will focus on questions of defining terrorism, tackling disarmament and financing development. Last week's US draft agreement strengthened sections on spreading democracy but deleted most mentions of treaties and institutions opposed by the US, such as the International Criminal Court [official website] and the Kyoto Protocol [UN backgrounder]. The Los Angeles Times has more. US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton [official profile] has welcomed the intergovernmental negotiating process and said that he is looking forward to the group's first meeting Monday. KUNA has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in Six Days' War

On November 22, 1967, the UN Security Council called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied during the Six Days' War, and for respect of the right of all States in the area to "live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries." Read Resolution 242, which remains a cornerstone of efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.

President Kennedy assassinated, VP Lyndon Johnson sworn inin

On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Later that day, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as the 36th President of the United States. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was later tasked with leading a commission to investigate the assassination. President Johnson received the final report of the Warren Commission on September 24, 1964. Read the Warren Commission Report.